Outboard fitting advice required

TomKat · 20 October 2011, 07:58

Hi

Just bought a 4.8m Lencraft and getting an old DT55 for it today. I have never fitted an outboard before, any tips would be excellent!

The console on the boat has no obvious place for a battery so I will be setting up from scratch so any pointers there would be superb as well.

Bit excited about it all

9D280 · 20 October 2011, 09:48

There will be a raft of theoretical replied flooding in soon, so on the assumption both are pre-owned, the first big Q is

Do the holes on the transom line up with the ones on the engine?

if so, get yourself a squezy toob of your favourite underwater rated marine sealant, and use Plenty of it round and in the holes. if you coat the length of the fixing bolts with a strip of it & rotate the bolt as you push it trhough slowly you will coat the inside of the hole. Probably best to use M12 Fine thread bolts, unless the clamp has way smaller holes. Nuts on inside /vs outside is a matter of personal choice & aesthetics. Nuts inside may mean the bottom pair of bolt ends foul your fuel tank if you have a portable sat under the engine.

If not, this is where you have that unnerving pelasure of drilling holes in your boat! Usually best to hang the engine, strap it down (if it doesn't have transom screws like the small Aux type engnes), drill the 4 pilot holes, then remove it again to do the actual drilling, as the clamp will foul your chuck.

If you have holes that don't line up with the clamp, you'll need to fill them first. Do a search - there's plenty of posts about that game on here.....

Handy tip - if you havean A-frame, fit the steering cable to the engine before you bot it on - otherwise you will discover "Sod's law of a- frames & steering cables"....... Don't ask how I know that

As for rigging, there are many ways of routing cables. If you have nder deck trunking, again have a search, this has been discussed hundreds of times. If you donlt then the tidiest way is to buy ridiculously priced flexible trunking - you'll need sometthing like a 50mm / 2" dia to get absolutely everything through. Option 2 is what I did - take a trip to your local Electrical wholesaler (CEF is a national one) and buy twice as muich 30mm Copex as you need for the run (even buying twice as much it's about 1/10 the price of the "official" 2" stuff per m. One takes the battery cables & one of the throttle / gear cables, the other takes the fuel, remotes wiring & the other throttle or gear cable. Then tie wrap them either side of the steering cable. One good thing about that setup is instead of a 50mm trip hazard across your deck, you end up with a flatter, wider run which is much less of a trip hazard.

Have a look up behind the wheel - some hide the battery in there. If nothng there, a decent battery box & strap it to the floor under the console is likely the best place.

Fuel tanks are another "what fits?" thing - if you donlt ahve a built in tank, I find two Hulk 30L tanks fit nicely side by side under the transom. I have a connector on a 4" length of fuel pipe on each tank and one hose wioth primer. Saves a lot of mess & wansdering loose fuel line back there, as you can cut the hose to be just the right length.

I'm sure there will be more thoughts later, but just post back if you find anything weird.

TomKat · 20 October 2011, 12:18

fantastic advice, thanks for taking the time to do all this, some great tips. The boat had twins before so no issues with hole alignment I hope!

Downhilldai · 20 October 2011, 13:18

I reckon 30mm ducting will be too small for a DT55, 'cos of the big round plug on the business end of the wiring loom.

Alternatively, you could use 'Spiral Wrap' on your cables. Makes a nice tidy job of it, but a PITA if you need to change or add a cable/hose.

TomKat · 20 October 2011, 13:40

Cool I have 30mm and 50mm and spirowrap so I will see what works out best tonight when I pick the OB up.

Do you know of the top of your head what the mounting bolt sizes are for the transom?

jyasaki · 20 October 2011, 16:26

Quote:

if so, get yourself a squezy toob of your favourite underwater rated marine sealant, and use Plenty of it round and in the holes. if you coat the length of the fixing bolts with a strip of it & rotate the bolt as you push it trhough slowly you will coat the inside of the hole.

If you have access to a thin epoxy mix (as used in fiberglassing, for instance) that works well for sealing the holes. Slather it in and coat the entire bore, allow to cure, then seal up around the bolts with a good marine caulk before tightening everything up. The epoxy seals the wood from getting wet (which causes rot), and the caulk prevents salt water from leaching in between the sealed wood and the bolts (which can cause several problems, notably expansion cracking from salt crystals or anaerobic corrosion to the bolts.)

Great reply, 9D280.

jky

TomKat · 20 October 2011, 21:37

flippin heck that engine is wild heavy, bringing to work as I could not face lifting it on after putting it in the back of may car! Forklift required. Thanks for all the assistance so far.

One more question. It has power trim, is there an overide? currently fully down so if I bolt to the boat in work might not be able to tow it home.

Downhilldai · 20 October 2011, 23:45

Yes, there's a manual release screw in the mechanism. Depending on the age of the motor, it will be either on the motor, or hidden in the saddle, but labelled for ease of identification. What year is the DT55?

Nasher · 21 October 2011, 08:06

I had a DT55 on a Flatacraft Force4, cracking motor, but as you say a little heavy if it's the 3 cylinder.

I have quite a lot of info about thee engines hanging aound along with some spares, so might be able to help at some stage.

I also had the same problem moving the engine up and down before the battery etc was fully connected.
The manual release is a bit of a Faff, so I ended up using a pair of wires connected to a motorcycle battery that I shorted across the relays as required. Obviously I wouldn’t recommend this unless you are confident you know what you are doing.

Nasher.

TomKat · 21 October 2011, 08:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nasher

I wouldn’t recommend this unless you are confident you know what you are doing.

Nasher.

I am confident but I would'nt say I knew what I was doing - a deadly combination!

Might well be needing some spares/info will see how I get on with getting it powered up. Sold to me as fully working and is very clean looking but who knows what it will be like till I get it running and in the water!

Cheers chaps for the tips on the manula release and the override.

Downhilldai · 21 October 2011, 11:20

Forgot to mention that I have a spare cowling here for a mid-late '80s DT55 which you can have for the price of a shant plus postage.

9D280 · 21 October 2011, 14:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Downhilldai

I reckon 30mm ducting will be too small for a DT55, 'cos of the big round plug on the business end of the wiring loom.

True, and on paper it was too small for my Yam 55's loom too. I removed all the electrics bar the ASIG switch form the remotes, which meant I could stuff the "free" end through from the engine. Did much the same thing when I swapped to the Merc.

Electrics are all now in my console - it was all part of a bigger plan!

TomKat · 21 October 2011, 23:54

chaps great advice, holes all plugged epoxied and gel coated, outboard bolted on and to my great relief when connected up the trim worked perfectly!

Two remaining issues:-

- there is no bar on the engine to connect to the steering, are these engine specific or a generic part?

- how do you get that black waterproof sealnt off your hands!!!

Will move onto figuring out tidying the wiring/cable routing over the next day or two but very happy camper at the minute!

TomKat · 22 October 2011, 11:11

Well fired it up and after 5 minutes of hand wringing it finally started only to oiled the plugs in about 30 seconds! Old petrol I hope!

2 other items required

- fuel connector for the engine
- safety cap for the controller - currently over riding with a screw driver!

willk · 22 October 2011, 11:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomKat

- how do you get that black waterproof sealnt off your hands!!!

Cleaning wipes, or babywipes if you're unfortunate enough to have a supply handy

kerny · 22 October 2011, 12:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by willk

Cleaning wipes, or babywipes if you're unfortunate enough to have a supply handy

Don't know what it is about babywipes but they will clean anything. I was told about there magical powers when I had my caravan, the wipes cleaned the black streaks on the metal work below the windows also great for getting marks off grp and the tubes also works on clothes and basically anything, give it a try.

TomKat · 22 October 2011, 13:43

Top tip on the baby wipes, I can see my skin again!

Back to the DT55 from what I can see it has an automatic choke? The only way it will fire is if I manually operate the choke at the engine (by pushing the linkage). Is this correct or are there wires in the loom that need conected.

Engine runs for 10 seconds then dies, very smokey so need the fuel freshened up. Battery on charge for a another try later.

TomKat · 22 October 2011, 14:15

A few items needed - any offers of used items or where I can get new ones form would be most excellent!

- kill lead for ob, cap style
- steering link bar
- fuel connector for engine

small battery box and isolator switch

deck cleats for fuel tank and battery box

Cheers

TomKat · 22 October 2011, 19:45

also need the securing block for the outboard for the control cables, might have to make something, Nasher anything in your spares box?

chewy · 22 October 2011, 22:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomKat

A few items needed - any offers of used items or where I can get new ones form would be most excellent!

- kill lead for ob, cap style
- steering link bar
- fuel connector for engine

small battery box and isolator switch

deck cleats for fuel tank and battery box

Cheers

Why cap style kill switch, the rocker type can be reset so the engine can be ran without the killcord, this may be a good or bad thing depending on who uses the boat?
Steering bar needs to be the right length to get the same turns each way.
Fuel connectors I'd buy new.